Information: A miller is someone one who works in a mill. Mills were an invention of the era and were built tp pump water and grind grain. The village mill housed a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. The work they did had to be approxmately 3 days each week on the land designated to the lord of the manor. They also had to make certain payments, either in money or more often in grain, honey, eggs, or other produce. In order to have the things you wanted, such as flour, you had to grow wheat and then use that for flour. You couldn't jsut go to the store and expect to have it all done for you. When you weren't working on the land that was your time to get all the things done you needed for your family and your food.
The miller worked until the last light of day, when the flames died in the fireplace or the wax of the candles melted down low. The miller told stories to keep people from coming around the mill at night to discover his secrets, like how he practiced his trade. The millstones may be only uncovered at night and the itinerant millstone dresser may only dress them at night by candle light. A dishonest miller might have an extra hidden chute that came from the millstones so he could gradually steal part of the customers grain. During Medieval times you (as a peasant) had to take your grain to the Lords, Abbotts, or Kings mill. The miller was just an employee of the master. If you were found hiding a hand quern (a small pair of millstones powered by hand to grind grain), they would be taken and broken, and you hanged. A lot of people wanted to set up the Feudal System in Early America.
The Miller is a character of commanding physical presence: he is a massive man who excels in such displays of strength as wrestling matches, and breaking doors "at a renning with his heed". He has a huge beard, wide nostrils, a vast mouth and a conspicuous wart, crowned by a tuft of hairs likened in colour to the bristles of a sow's ears. By stressing the Miller's physical attributes, Chaucer suggests to the reader the idea of a down-to-earth man who takes pleasure in satisfying basic appetites. Such a cliché would only supply half the picture; though the Miller is a man of down-to-earth outlook and physical pleasure, he is a very intelligent man. His narrative style, if less complex and conventionally sophisticated than the Knight's, is masterly in its realism, economy and control, especially of the humorous elements.
Part One: What specific occupation does your chatacter practice? The miller's occupation is to pump water and grind grain, making breads.
What does the need for this occupation tell us about the time period? That the people working in the mill's needed the money and it was all done by hand making. You couldnt go to the store to purchase what you needed.
What was his or her social standing? Most likley very poor, needed money a lot of the times for bread. They were classfiied as low social standing.
What might your character's day to day life be like? As soon as the sun comes up you would be working outside the mill or inside depending on what your job was. It would be working early mornings till late nights. Grinding the grain, working on the water pumps, and making bread were some of the basic things you did every day.
What details about this character does Chaucer not include? They do not talk about what kind of job he had or about his family and what they were like. The age is not mentioned either, nor where he might be living at.
What modern day occupation might correspond to your medieval character and why? Today they're things such as a Bakery, Bread Factory, and a a machine that grinds feed for animals, such as, cows, horses, pigs, goats, etc. Things like this would be similar to what they had in the middle ages, just a lot more technology in todays world.
Part Two: The miller was a strong man, you should know, Courageous and very muscular and boney; You could tell he was muscular and When he went on to fight at wrestling, Never failed as he was giving heavy blows (5) He wasn’t fat, but not skinny, very big He would rip the door off the hinged if he wanted
Or run through the door and slam his head through it. His beard was as red as a fox with red fur. He had a big shovel (10) Dealing with his big nose he had a wart, And on that wart there were hairs As red as the tough hairs in a swine (pig)’s ears He had a wide and black nose hole (nostrils) A sword and shield by his side (15) His mouth was big and was warm He was a joker who could write poetry Be was nothing but bad, He could steel corn and sell it for three times as much He was very generous (20) He was a young boy dressed in a white coat and blue hood He could play the bagpipe very well, you should know, And as they left town he played. The lines that best describe our character's physical appearance are, 11 & 12 The lines that describe his personality are, 19 & 20 The specific words that add to our understanding of our characters personality are, generous, sin, (nothing but bad.)
Part 3: What is Chaucer's opinion toward this character? Chaucer describes him as being very big of bone and a chunky fellow. He talks about his looks and describes him as how he appears to himself.
What specific lines or words tell you this? In The Miller, it talks about how hes very good at playing the Bagpipe. " A bagpipe he could blow well, be it known, And with that same he brought us out of town.
What word choices require an understanding of vocabulary from the time period? Churl: A rude, boorish, or surly person. Tuft: a bunch or cluster of small, usually soft and flexible parts, as feathers or hairs, attached or fixed closely together at the base and loose at the upper ends. Buckler: a round shield held by a grip and sometimes having straps through which the arm is passed. Ribaldries: ribald character, as of language; scurrility.
A miller is someone one who works in a mill. Mills were an invention of the era and were built tp pump water and grind grain. The village mill housed a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. The work they did had to be approxmately 3 days each week on the land designated to the lord of the manor. They also had to make certain payments, either in money or more often in grain, honey, eggs, or other produce. In order to have the things you wanted, such as flour, you had to grow wheat and then use that for flour. You couldn't jsut go to the store and expect to have it all done for you. When you weren't working on the land that was your time to get all the things done you needed for your family and your food.
The miller worked until the last light of day, when the flames died in the fireplace or the wax of the candles melted down low. The miller told stories to keep people from coming around the mill at night to discover his secrets, like how he practiced his trade. The millstones may be only uncovered at night and the itinerant millstone dresser may only dress them at night by candle light. A dishonest miller might have an extra hidden chute that came from the millstones so he could gradually steal part of the customers grain. During Medieval times you (as a peasant) had to take your grain to the Lords, Abbotts, or Kings mill. The miller was just an employee of the master. If you were found hiding a hand quern (a small pair of millstones powered by hand to grind grain), they would be taken and broken, and you hanged. A lot of people wanted to set up the Feudal System in Early America.
The Miller is a character of commanding physical presence: he is a massive man who excels in such displays of strength as wrestling matches, and breaking doors "at a renning with his heed". He has a huge beard, wide nostrils, a vast mouth and a conspicuous wart, crowned by a tuft of hairs likened in colour to the bristles of a sow's ears. By stressing the Miller's physical attributes, Chaucer suggests to the reader the idea of a down-to-earth man who takes pleasure in satisfying basic appetites. Such a cliché would only supply half the picture; though the Miller is a man of down-to-earth outlook and physical pleasure, he is a very intelligent man. His narrative style, if less complex and conventionally sophisticated than the Knight's, is masterly in its realism, economy and control, especially of the humorous elements.
Part One:
What specific occupation does your chatacter practice? The miller's occupation is to pump water and grind grain, making breads.
What does the need for this occupation tell us about the time period? That the people working in the mill's needed the money and it was all done by hand making. You couldnt go to the store to purchase what you needed.
What was his or her social standing? Most likley very poor, needed money a lot of the times for bread. They were classfiied as low social standing.
What might your character's day to day life be like? As soon as the sun comes up you would be working outside the mill or inside depending on what your job was. It would be working early mornings till late nights. Grinding the grain, working on the water pumps, and making bread were some of the basic things you did every day.
What details about this character does Chaucer not include? They do not talk about what kind of job he had or about his family and what they were like. The age is not mentioned either, nor where he might be living at.
What modern day occupation might correspond to your medieval character and why? Today they're things such as a Bakery, Bread Factory, and a a machine that grinds feed for animals, such as, cows, horses, pigs, goats, etc. Things like this would be similar to what they had in the middle ages, just a lot more technology in todays world.
Part Two:
The miller was a strong man, you should know,
Courageous and very muscular and boney;
You could tell he was muscular and
When he went on to fight at wrestling,
Never failed as he was giving heavy blows (5)
He wasn’t fat, but not skinny, very big
He would rip the door off the hinged if he wanted
Or run through the door and slam his head through it.
His beard was as red as a fox with red fur.
He had a big shovel (10)
Dealing with his big nose he had a wart,
And on that wart there were hairs
As red as the tough hairs in a swine (pig)’s ears
He had a wide and black nose hole (nostrils)
A sword and shield by his side (15)
His mouth was big and was warm
He was a joker who could write poetry
Be was nothing but bad,
He could steel corn and sell it for three times as much
He was very generous (20)
He was a young boy dressed in a white coat and blue hood
He could play the bagpipe very well, you should know,
And as they left town he played.
The lines that best describe our character's physical appearance are, 11 & 12
The lines that describe his personality are, 19 & 20
The specific words that add to our understanding of our characters personality are, generous, sin, (nothing but bad.)
Part 3:
What is Chaucer's opinion toward this character? Chaucer describes him as being very big of bone and a chunky fellow. He talks about his looks and describes him as how he appears to himself.
What specific lines or words tell you this? In The Miller, it talks about how hes very good at playing the Bagpipe. " A bagpipe he could blow well, be it known, And with that same he brought us out of town.
What word choices require an understanding of vocabulary from the time period?
Churl: A rude, boorish, or surly person.
Tuft: a bunch or cluster of small, usually soft and flexible parts, as feathers or hairs, attached or fixed closely together at the base and loose at the upper ends.
Buckler: a round shield held by a grip and sometimes having straps through which the arm is passed.
Ribaldries: ribald character, as of language; scurrility.